Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Be patient and give way

Singapore drivers are generally impatient and do not give way. If the car in front signal to move lane, the car behind will usually sound the horn, rather than slow down. Why are drivers so impatient?

9 comments:

STG said...

singaporeans are generally kind and friendly on the streets.

but behind the wheel, inside the 'privacy' of the car, behind the pc under the guise of "anonymity", sg folks can be a rather mean lot.

i think our sociologists should do a comprehensive study of such behaviour and find out the cause or at least the correlations.

Anonymous said...

It has to do with the crampy environment. If S'pore is getting more "talents" and more cars driven by these talents on the roads will make the blood boils.

More cars more pedestrians more jaywalkers more stressful to drive and less patient to give way.

I used to give way to public buses but not anymore now after LTA introduced the unpopular mandatory bus lanes which only further penalised car drivers whom had faithfully paid their road taxes and ERP charges.

SD said...

I think they should fine people for misuse of horn and high beam. Horn are meant for warning people of incoming danger, or as far as i know, in some countries, horn and high beam is a way to say thank you. But in Singapore, it has become a norm that horn and high beam are used to scold people. And very often, i heard drivers sounding long and irritating horns, e.g. when a car got stuck in the yellow boxes and obstructing the incoming green light traffics. The car stopping on yellow boxes is indeed wrong, but there is not at all helpful by producing those long and irritating horns. I got really irritated by such sounds even when walking on the streets, not to mention on the drivers.

Anonymous said...

REX comments as follows,

i am not sure if the car which kinlian drives is a huge poshy one. In my opinion, whether the driver on the other lane gives way or not to you, sometimes depend on what car you drive. Some people just don't like others driving cars nicer and bigger than theirs, so they tend not to give way.

For me, I have a tiny car Perodua Kelisa 1.0litre. Nine times out of 10, cars will give way to me. They reckon i'm such a pitiful miserable poor fellow, so heck, they always let me through the other lane so long as i signal in advance. A small car is also not consuming too much lane space and therefore other drivers are more tolerant.

REX

william francis said...

I just recently returned from Germany and I find the drivers there are extremely patient and courteous, they will slow down and give way to you when you are caught in a tight situation and needs to switch lane. In Singapore instead of slowing down and give way, our drivers speed up instead when you signal to switch lane! I think this has something to do with our social teaching so we should start educating our young generation in the school.

Anonymous said...

I'll give way to big and expensive cars since they are either rich, famous or powerful people.

I also give way to all cars except Honda and Toyota as majority of them think their cars are far more superior than others.

Anonymous said...

Singapore drivers should learn from their Iranian counterpart. The traffic jams in Tehran is horrendous, as there are a lot more vehicles in that city than in Singapore.........but you'll hardly hear the horn, and traffic still moves at a respectable pace considering the jams. No middle fingers shown!

Accident rate is very low...... for one thing, there are no drunk drivers.

Another surprising fact: You don't hear the call for prayers even in the silence of the early morning, because the late Ayahtollah said that it would not be kind to the old, the sick and the small children who could need their sleep or rest.

Tan Kin Lian said...

Hi Rex

I drove a Toyota. Nothing outstanding. This is the most common model on the road. So, there is no need to be jealous of my car.

Singaporeans are impatient. They know how to use the horn, but do not know how to use the brake (to allow the car in front to change lane). It is just ugly selfishness, which is a part of the Singaporean character - quite sad for me to say so.

It is the product of our education system - to be competitive and high pressure.

Anonymous said...

REX comments as follows,

er.. sorry sir, my mail wasn't meant to indicate any bad feelings for people who drive big cars. I was just illustrating that SOME people simply don't like drivers who drive certain type of cars (as i noted, my point was proven correct at least in one case, anonymous 9.51 above doesnt like Honda and Toyota drivers.. ha ha..).. it is just my guess because with my small car i hardly ever have any of the trouble of rude drivers refusing to give way to me.

I am never jealous of people with big cars by the way. Actually cars are the most horrible thing to buy and own, i have absolutely no interest in cars, that's why i cycle and use Perodua. I could afford a mercedes actually, but it is total waste of money. I am never jealous of anyone with big cars, in fact i think they should learn how to pedal a bicycle, i do that everyday.

REX

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